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PHOTO: Lorde covers 'Teen Vogue'

It’s “The Lorde Revolution,” reads the May cover story of Teen Vogue, squaring the 17-year-old in red plaid, doused in innocence and mystery. When she embarked on her royal journey to superstardom, it was out of the love of music, more than anything else. As her smash single “Royals” indicates, Lorde is not your typical superstar grabbing at their fifteen minutes of fame. She’s an artist to her very (sometimes dark) core.

Within the pages of the forthcoming magazine, the New Zealander digs into her inspiration, particularly about why she does the things she does. If you are wondering where her musical moniker came from, she discusses that, too. ”I wanted a name that had something to do with aristocracy,” she says. Her birth name is Ella Yelich-O’Connor (in case you live in a cave these days). “And then I wrote the word and linked it. I liked the weird juxtaposition between it being masculine and tough sounding with a soft, feminine feel in the end.”

To say the star breaks the mold is an understatement. She goes against everything we’ve come to know about modern pop music, especially for breakout females. ”I am feminine, but I really love dressing in boys’ clothes too. I guess that’s why I get labeled as ‘the grumpy girl,’ because I don’t play into that.”

She quickly adds, “Believe me, it’s not lost on me. This time last year, I had never put new music out.”

Already a Grammy winner, she admits that her “life is so wild right now.” She notes, ”Living in New Zealand, you don’t get these experiences. I spent so much time in my room before. For me to be able to do something I really enjoy and for that to get me out in the world—to South America, to here, to London—every day I kick myself, I’m so lucky.”

Admittedly, she is also like the rest of us, with favorite bands and TV shows. She humorously says of passing fads, ”Every few months, I take the posters off my walls. I’m like, ‘How did I like this stuff two months ago?’”

And what is she watching these days? ”I finally watched ‘Girls’ a couple of days ago and I loved it,” she reveals. “I tweeted Lena Dunham and she was like, ‘You’re the dream audience.’ I really appreciated that. I was like, ‘ahh!’”